Economic Crisis=Demagogue Time

I have been thinking about how to express my felt sense of the present mood of the country. Some time ago I wrote a blog on”A Pall “ that was hanging over the land. Now I am past “The Pall.” Well, I played with “angst.” No that’s just anxiety. Yes there’s some of that but yet there’s more. How about “ennui” No thats French for lassitude. How about “miasma?” Thats a “poisoned atmosphere." Okay, if we can think of it a mass psychological condition then I believe it fits the present mood of the country. We are suffering from a Miasma of the body politic. Now that the “Big Lend and Spend Parties of the nineties are over the American middle class is really pissed off. They cannot abide with the notion that all those goodies have gone with the economic bust. Then we elect the first Black President and instead of things getting better as promised they get worse. This makes for ideal situation for the demagogues.

In my 93 years I have lived through a number of Miasma’s. They are never exactly the same but there are a few characteristics that show up in all of them. The present situation with the persistent ten percent unemployment and the continuous home foreclosure is starting to increasingly resemble the 1930s. I estimate that the unemployment is probably now somewhere between 15 to 20 millions. Many people who cannot find jobs are either no longer eligible for unemployment benefits or just quit applying. That's a huge pool of angry folks out there. Who will they blame for their circumstance? People in distress often start out blaming themselves for the disorder. Slowly but surely they will find a need to blame somebody or something for their dire circumstance.

In my Marxist days on the soapbox I could make a good case that capitalist system was to blame for the working class ills. Om my desk is a copy of the IWW songbook. On the cover it says “Fan The Flames of the Discontent.” That is exactly what Glenn Beck is doing. Fanning the flames of the discontent.

The present political Miasma, besides the failing economy, is a fierce hatred spewing forth from the right wing of the Republicans against the Democrats and especially their Black President Barack Obama. This situation sets up an ideal situation for the demagogues to work in. They need enemies to blame the economic crisis on as well as slogans that will arouse people to act. Enter Fox News man Glenn Beck.

Speaking of the 1930s my papa used to say “It is very important in times like these to be on the lookout for hidden meanings of code words and phrases.” Yes of course, welcome to “Give Us Our Country Back.” And today with a huge crowd at the Lincoln Memorial Mr. Beck “Bring God back into our lives.” “Bring honor back to our country.” All of these slogans suggest that the present Administration is a danger and threat to “our country and we need to take it back.” Code for get rid of that Black man in the White House.

Todays caper at the Lincoln Memorial, claiming the mantle of Martin Luther King is a way to scare more people into believing the whole country is signing on to, “Give Us Our Country Back.” The mass rally technique is just another form of stampeding the uninformed, unsure and independents to get on board as “we take over the country.” It’s that old saw “you with us or against us?” You remember that one?

No. there was none of that back in the 1963 March on Washington for, “Jobs and Freedom” where King made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. As it continues today. Blacks back then were suffering a far greater unemployment rate than whites. Freedom was not a code word for get the government off my back as it was used today at the Beck rally. Freedom meant the right to live unsegregated lives. With a couple of hundred kids from Mobilization For Youth I attended that rally. There is no question that the March became a rallying cry for the country to pay attention to the needs of a minority of citizens who for to long have been deprived of their just rights under our Constitution. What went on today at the Lincoln Memorial was an attempt to usurp that great moment from our struggle for civil rights and claim it for the Tea Party. That's what demagogues do. Turn things into their opposites.

This is a real challenge to the Obama administration. They need to to really smack back hard on any of these coded messages so that people can see what they are about. Obama needs to respond to the criticisms that he is just to distant from the average working stiffs. During the Gulf crisis I was hoping he would just go and schmooze with some of those Gulf fishermen. He never did. That has got to change or we will see another big deflection of blue collar people turning once again away from the Democrats as they did in the Reagan years. The administration needs to get back to organizing all those Internet folks who elected the President and alert them to the upcoming election in November. I hope they haven’t got to tired of it all and are able and willing to respond.